It’s that time of the year where everyone feels under the weather. I am one of those people. After coughing a million times, I decided to go to the doctor, who then prescribed me medication that needed to be taken after you have a meal. I usually just cook, but I thought, as I was sick, I would just rather go to GDS since it’s around the corner.

As I arrived there, I noticed that there was no food on the counters. Obviously, my disappointed self decided to go check my options. The line was too long at the grill so I decided to get a fajita over rice at the Fajita Station. At this point, I am excited for some warm food! As I started ordering, the man behind the counter goes, “I have no jalapenos, cucumbers and I only have a little onions.” I start to think to myself, what is going on? I don’t even have a meal plan, what do people with meal plans eat every day? It’s the weekends when we need the most food, because Taco Bell and the other restaurants are closed on that day, leaving you with nothing but GDS, the C-Store, or the Village Market.

While I had all these questions running through my mind I noticed something; the man behind the counter hadn’t flipped my meat or asked if I wanted any seasoning. I decided to ask him if I could get some seasoning. Not only did I get an annoyed look, but he also just dumped all the seasoning on it. I thought, how bad could it be? But I was just kidding myself. I noticed the man starting to sweep the area while simultaneously cooking mine and another student’s meal. This completely killed my appetite. When I got my rice, it didn’t look so bad. I then went to get some lettuce from the nacho section. What I saw truly surprised me: The lettuce was slimy and brown:

I said to myself, this is the last time I will ever come to GDS. I then went to get a drink, and surprise surprise: they were out of diet soda and forks! Just appalled by this, I make my way to go sit down. I looked at my friend’s food. He was eating fried chicken and he hadn’t touched it. I asked him why, he says, “It’s cold and dry.” I thought the food from the grill was supposed to be fresh and not cold. None of us ate anything and left. This was truly a low point for me with GDS.

Some hard facts about eating brown slimy lettuce from Livestrong.com’

“Lettuce that is unsafe to eat shows definite signs. Bacteria can begin to reproduce on bruised leaves. The buildup of bacteria causes a slimy texture. A fungal infection caused by sclerotinia also causes a slimy texture. Botrytis cinerea can thrive and cause a gray mold to be produced. You should take caution when finding these signs of lettuce disease.”

Saturday GDS Times:

10:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Brunch 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Dinner 4:30 PM – 7:00 PM

As a student, I know I never eat dinner from 4:30-7:00pm. Most of us have extracurricular activities, projects and studying to do, so it makes it impossible to go at that certain time. Apart from that, if you eat that early you are bound to be hungry by at least 10pm again. Furthermore, it states here that GDS is open till 9:00pm. If the food was so unbearable at 7:30, would there be bugs at 9:00pm?

The workers there most of the time have a bad attitude, are unsanitary and are too busy on the phone (as I noticed the lady who swiped your card in was texting when we arrived). Although I am disappointed about spending $9.45 for such bad service and food, I am more frustrated for people who have meal plans who pay anywhere from $800 – $2300 and do not get food up to regular standards. Is it too much to ask to have fresh and sanitary food from our school when we are paying so much for a meal plan? I feel that a school that requires freshmen and sophomores to have a meal plan should be aware of the quality of food they are serving, because for some of the students, that is their only option.

Comments

How about the fact that it costs more for water than soda anywhere on campus? And that it’s $1.50, and even more in the Warren St. Cafe. What kind of “cafe” charges for water??(Also where you’red served water bottles and get paper plates).

Honestly, I do not know nor understand how this place hasn’t been sued/closed down. I straight up puked after eating gds once this year. I have only gone back maybe 10 times max. I always get my food at village market or sometimes I will straight up not eat. Let’s just say that they are going to lose a couple grand next year.

This is what exactly needs to be done, and thank you Jinisha for taking that step! It is so sad that pretty much our only dependable place for food is coming from garbage…and we pay a fortune for it (for those with meal plans). Not only is the food sometimes not edible, the fact they have those ridiculous hours (which by the way, most of us have night classes and they all pretty much get out by 9, but lucky us, we can eat the same few things available, week after week). With the terrible selection of food, along with the hours and horrible service, it is safe to say I am taking my money elsewhere for food, and it is a shame that I cannot rely on my campus cafeteria for my meals.

I truly believe we all should say something. This is our school, we are paying for it, so we should be getting what we deserve.

When I was a sophomore, I decided not to get a meal plan for GDS because of how disgusting their food was, and how much money I would save by cooking my own food. Unfortunately, as a sophomore, I was required to get a meal plan. I was angry, not only because I had to pay $800 (for the lowest priced plan), but I went to GDS at a max of 10 times throughout the semester. It was a waste. I hate GDS.

This comment is in reply to the first comment about the Warren St. Cafe. As a waiter I can say with certainty that we neither serve food on paper plates nor charge for water. If you see someone eating on a paper plate they purchased their food from Aiellos the pizzeria attached to the cafe. If someone has a bottle of water it is solely because they asked for a bottle of water and just like anywhere else you are charged for bottles. If you sit down and eat here you will be given free water and all food is served on real plates by chef’s who take time to male sure the food is not only delicious but appealing to the eye as well.

“I start to think to myself, what is going on? I don’t even have a meal plan, what do people with meal plans eat every day?”

Let me answer that question for you: normally, people with meal plans eat food from stations OTHER than the Grill and Fajita Station. And, normally, the food is pretty good, if not better than most campuses. I actually enjoy my meals, believe it or not. Sure, from time to time, the food is lacking in some areas, but you should be fine if you’re not picky about your food.On top of that, if you’re really that unsatisfied with your food, you can be creative and make something yourself, the simplest being a sandwich or something.

There are so many other things in your article that, if I may be frank, are so prejudiced and biased that I won’t even address it. Your article is less of a professional paper and more of a hateful review or tabloid that doesn’t help anybody because its so constipated with negativity (come on, “Gore-met”?). Not only do I find it offensive, but also unfair to the GDS workers that are actually nice, caring, and friendly to the students that come to eat there. Honestly, did you even bother trying to interview any of the staff? Ask them exactly how do they prepare the meals? How do their shifts work? Their opinions? No? How about students (like me) that actually appreciate GDS? Next time, try getting the full story before publishing something like this.

The food stations exist only so GDS doesn’t have to pay additional people to make the food. TCNJ’s dining hall has MORE food stations than NJIT’s, along with having paid workers behind each making the food. TCNJ is also roughly around the same cost as NJIT, it doesn’t matter that TCNJ is private and NJIT is a public.

Your claim that “normally, people with meal plans eat food from stations OTHER than the Grill and Fajita Station.” Do you have a statistic on this, or is this just anecdotal evidence based on what you have seen? I myself, rarely eat from any of the other stations and only eat from the normal dinner line, because I try my best to get in and out of GDS as quickly as possible. I can tell you that I rarely have a warm meal, even during “normal” dinner hours.

You are also getting upset about how an op-ed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op-ed) is prejudiced and biased. You do realize that this is what op-eds are for, right? This article is about the terrible experience that the author had at our dining hall, and the comments , both here and on the reddit post for this article, are opinions of others. Turns out that nearly everyone who has bothered to comment so far, has had similar experiences. And these are only the people who read the paper, or go to /r/NJTech. I agree, it is a small percentage, but if the responses have been so overwhelmingly negative so far, something must be wrong.

Thank you for sharing your opinion. However, I feel compelled to clarify this was an opinion piece submitted as a letter to the editor. Of course it will be biased and prejudiced.

The Vector is actively following up on this story to present an objective view. Yes, that means talking to employees. But, that also requires talking to students and letting them voice their opinions, whether they be positive or negative. As a paper we serve the NJIT community.

And for the record, I had a meal plan for a whole year. I just did not appreciate the quality of the food that I ws receiveing. Like you said, sometimes it is bad. That shouldn’t be the case. The food should NEVER be bad.